Archive: misc.ience August 2009

I was incredibly fortunate to be able to attend Open Data Day* last week in Christchurch. While there, the very awesome @kayakr (Jonathan Hunt) gave an unconference session on how to build APIs from static webpages**. After some playing around with a table I got from the Wellington City Council of inland offleash dog areas, I […] … Read More

As some of you may know, for the last 4+ years I’ve been organising and hosting a wee event here in Wellington called Nerd Nite (you guessed it) Wellington. I’ve made mention of it occasionally here over the last few years, and today seemed as good a day as any to mention it again! For two reasons… 1. We gots mediaaaah … Read More

It’s possible some of you have noticed I’ve not been around much recently. For which I am sorry – I miss blogging about sciencely things on a regular basis :) However, life has been…busy. In addition to the whole ‘paying the mortgage with day job’ thing, I’ve been spending time trying to get various projects off the ground*. One of … Read More

John Oliver*, commentator and satirist, NAILS IT. And in case you didn’t see the news last week? Well, I’m just super glad I’m not investing in seafront property. Or anything close. Distinctly worried about most of our major cities, though, given humanity’s apparently inability to get its arse into gear around climate change-related issues. —– * If you don’t listen … Read More

A question almost constantly on the minds of (well, most, I guess) science communicators is: “Is this piece of research newsworthy? Will anyone CARE about it, and read what I write on the subject?” And, as a general rule, the bigger and more important the news outlet, the more crucial that question is. Thankfully, people are looking into that very … Read More

Regular readers may be aware of my penchant for whimsy. My happy grinnings when people mix pedantry with a sense of humour*. And today’s offering is just such a one. The description is perfectly apt: it IS a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system. But there are some wonderful surprises, and I found myself scrolling for an awfully … Read More

And my goodness but there are some stunners this year. It’s difficult to pick a favourite, but I did want to highlight the video below as one of them. Produced by NASA and winner of the video category, it shows the beautifully intricate and dynamic relationship between Sol (our sun) and Earth. How it affects our climate, the effect of … Read More

It’s an insane day for space stuff! Stephen Hawking is boldly claiming ‘there are no black holes‘* – and this from the chap who proposed Hawking radiation :P Astronomers have discovered an ‘ultramassive’ black hole: one of the most powerful objects ever found. The ‘cosmic web’ – filaments of gas connecting galaxies across the darkest regions of space – has … Read More

Artist Benjamin Grosser has done some utterly fascinating – given us a new perspective on, well, our perception by showing us how computers ‘watch’ movies. The outcome is stunning. Each movie used – from Taxi Driver to The Matrix, Space 2001 to American Beauty – shows a strikingly different pattern. They come from software, written by Grosser, which illustrates how … Read More

The academic world can be a harsh mistress, as anyone who’s been anywhere near it knows. Not only can it feel like your colleagues are out to get you, but your bosses, funders, the public, governments and officials and, well, the world. Through all of this, fledgling (and lovely!) tumblr blog Academic Kindness shines a light of sweetness and hope. Read More

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